I was raised Roman Catholic and found that the Church of my youth essentially taught the basic beliefs of Christianity, the love of Jesus, and striving to be a better person.  I bear no hatred for the Church (which exists) nor for god (which doesn't), but have found over the years that the Church in the US has been increasingly stressing a message of intolerance, ignorance, and god's wrath rather than the Jesus' love.  I stress this point, as many theists accuse atheists of really believing in god, but hating (and thus rejecting) him due to some perceived slight from god.   I don't hate a divine god in the same way that I do not hate the non-existent gremlin that broke my microwave oven.  My atheism is not driven by hate.

As a young adult, I started reading the bible from the beginning and found the god character to be self-centered, inconsistent, vengeful, lying, and genocidally violent without an even basic understanding of science.  Such a god, even if he existed (which he doesn't), is simply unworthy of worship and praise. I readily admit the Jesus character of the New Testament (God 2.0, if you will) is nicer than God 1.0 from the Old Testament and am a big fan of sayings like "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and  “Do to others what you would have them do to you".  However, his belief in demons as the root cause for mental and physical impairments, which can be cast out with divine words is just wrong.  "Pray away the gay" anyone?

A far better sense of ethics and morality can be found by appealing to reason, science, and the human capacity for love and compassion than by consulting a 1800 - 3000 year old text written by priestly caste from a superstitious community of primarily farmers and shepherds with a limited understanding of science.  My atheism is fundamentally driven by reason and by love, as I reject the narcissism and violence perpetuated by the god character in the bible and the hatred and intolerance of too many who claim to worship him.

I have an undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. at Cornell University in Materials Science and Engineering, with a minor in Physics.  I have found that science can explain more and more things that previously were attributed to god.  The remaining 'god of the gaps" in scientific understanding is increasingly insignificant, and dare we say(?), impotent.